Tangled Return to Corona
by dragonprincess68
Summary: Zhan Tiri thought he was smart to capture Cassandra and send the mirror version of her to destroy the sundrop. He didn't think the real Cass would escape and help Rapunzel and Eugene defeat the mirror version of herself. Now the fight was over and after a heartbreaking goodbye to Edmund from Eugene the gang goes back to Corona. Their adventure finally at an end at last.


Return to Corona

They could finally see it. After a journey lasting a year and one month they were finally home.

"I think we should get home by dawn if we stop and rest. However I can be the one to drive us all night so we can unpack the caravan, then rest in our own beds. What do we want to do?" Cassandra asks. Part of Rapunzel and Eugene knew that Cassandra only wanted to drive all night because she was guilty of everything that happened from the moment Matthews's house of yesterday's tomorrow. She heard the voice and had followed it because it sounded like someone she felt she knew. In reality she managed to get trapped in the mirror she had been in once before thanks to Matthews. Demon Cassandra had betrayed them all making Cassandra feel like she betrayed her friends.

"How much sooner will we get home if we drive all night?" Rapunzel asks.

"About two or three am. Four to five hours before dawn and before anyone else in the palace is up by about an hour or two," Cass answers.

"I vote we go all night then. It'll feel like the same amount of sleep either way. Plus, if you drive then we can drop Shorty off at the Snuggly Duckling and also pack so it'll take less time to unload everything," Eugene suggests.

"That'll work," Cass shrugs. They get going once more and while the boys work together packing their room, Rapunzel packs her things so she could help Cass with her belongings afterwards. About an hour after agreeing on heading home without rest they reach the Snuggly Ducking. Shorty looks around for his belongings.

"What are you looking for?" Lance asks.

"I can't find my trunk," Shorty answers.

"You came with us thinking we were on a food truck. Therefor, you don't have a trunk," Eugene reminds the short thug.

"I did? Oh, yeah," he responds.

"Come one Shorty! We need to make this quick!" Cass says entering the boy's room.

"Okay, I'll be right back with my trunk. Then we can leave," Shorty says going to the Snuggly Duckling.

"We're leaving right now, right?" Eugene asks. Him and Lance bring Hook Foot's left behind belongings to the entrance of the pub, and then re-entering the caravan rather quickly before Shorty could enter the caravan again.

"Absolutely," Cass responds leaving to go to the beginning the caravan once more. They get back on the road for another two hours before reaching the bridge leading to Corona. It took an hour to pack the boy's room, but the girl's room took the entire three hours. Eugene goes into Rapunzel's room to check on her. She struggles to stay awake.

"You sure you don't want to sleep? I can wake you up once we get home," Eugene suggests.

"But we're almost home," she tries arguing. Even Pascal was sound asleep. Eugene lets out a small chuckle before climbing onto Rapunzel's bed to sit next to her. She lays her head onto his shoulder and closes her eyes. Eugene strokes her short brown hair. In the six months before she snuck out of palace walls with Cassandra, he missed her long, blonde hair. It wasn't until that terrifying night at the Dark Kingdom after they defeated the Mirror Cassandra that he missed her short hair. Sure, he liked calling her "Blondie" and it was cool she could lasso things and use her hair as a weapon, but he also loved how things were when she had brunette hair before. Villains couldn't pull her hair and most especially she'd be safe from the Moonstone Incantation if someone tried to use it once more. The carriage stops and Cass opens the caravan door.

"We're here," Cass announces. They grab belongings and take them quietly into the castle. It takes four trips among each person. Lance falls asleep after the last trip into the castle.

"We can help put the caravan away, and then put Max and Fidella into the stables," Eugene offers. Cassandra shakes her head.

"Nah, I've got it. Strangely enough I'm used to late nights and early mornings. I was also the one to voluntarily stay up most the night on watch," she reminds the two.

"If you need us or decide you want help then come get us. We'll be in my room," Rapunzel tells Cass before going back inside with Eugene. As they walk to Rapunzel's room they talk about what happened during their journey- especially the end of it.

"Can we talk about what happened at the Dark Kingdom?" Rapunzel asks in a hushed voice.

"Absolutely. What's up?" Eugene responds.

"When I was fighting the Moonstone, and Mirror Cass, did anything bad happen to anyone? Did one of us hurt anyone? Because I don't want to be responsible for hurting anyone. It's bad enough I hurt Cassandra when we were at the Great Tree. We still don't know if Hector is completely okay. I mean, he did agree to help Adira, but he hasn't talked to us since the Great Tree. My point is, I just have to know what happened. Losing anyone, especially you, my parents, Pascal, or Cass would be the worst thing to ever happen to me. You all mean so much to me," Rapunzel tells him. Instead of a whisper her voice grew to a hushed tone. Eugene lets go of her hand and puts his arm around her so he could hold her close to him.

"It was definitely more dangerous than the Moonstone Incantation fiasco at the Great Tree. My dad told me not to try and get involved because he couldn't lose me. Especially after finally getting me back, and since I reminded him so much of my mom. He told me when we were alone in the castle he could tell what kind of person someone was based on their eyes. He said he could tell how much I loved you after I wouldn't let you into the castle. He also said he saw my mom in my eyes. Anyway, I'm pretty sure someone or something knocked me out. I woke up and everything felt like it was at a stand still. You fell to the ground and I tried to get to you, but I must've passed out and lost consciousness again. That or I blacked out because I don't remember anything else that happened after that," Eugene remembers.

Rapunzel looks at her left hand at the diamond ring that resided there. Somehow the the ring managed to survive the trip in every single caravan mishap until a month or so before reaching the Dark Kingdom. She smiles remembering that while she may not have remembered anything due to the spell that was cast upon her, she did end up remembering she loved him. Once he told her they were engaged he felt guilty. It became funny to her when she got her memory back and realized they had somehow gotten engaged. She thought it was cute when he told her what happened when she had lost her memories from up until they had left the tower. It was like they'd fallen in love all over again. They'd been engaged for the past seven months already.

During their trip home Rapunzel bought a couple more journals to continue her stories about her adventures and one so she could plan her wedding. She let Eugene give his opinions, but she was overall happy that she could announce her engagement after sunrise. She was too excited to see her parents again that she was worried it would keep her from sleeping now that they were home at last. They reach her room and instead of letting go of his hand, Rapunzel drags him into her room knowing her parents still thought were on the road. She found a way around the rules this time. They lay down facing each other and Eugene can't help but smile while looking at her. He couldn't quite sleep yet. It felt like all of this was a dream. Being engaged to be married to the love of his life and not only living in a castle, but also having learned that he was a prince himself. It was like he was scared to sleep almost, and the only thing giving him comfort was looking into his almost wife's eyes.

"What?" she asks.

"The last time this happened, you only knew me as Flynn Rider. I slept next to you because a witch stole your memories. All until you left the tower," Eugene explains.

"I know. You've told me," Rapunzel reminds him.

"I did?" he asks unsure. She smiles.

"Yeah. Everyone explained everything to me once I got my memories back. Then when I noticed I was wearing a ring I'd only ever seen when you proposed to me, you explained what happened between us. It was the first time I saw you nervous without a potion from Xavier. Like the time the Griffin came here for whatever reason. I think it was a treaty or whatever," Rapunzel reminds him. She looks into his chocolate brown eyes and saw he was tired, but for some reason all he wanted to do was look at her as if it was for the last time. Like he was scared this was a dream and he didn't want to go to sleep because of this.

"Don't remind me of that time! It was so embarrassing because I made a fool of myself in front of not only your parents, but the Griffin and every other royal in town," he groans in embarrassment. She giggles in response because it was so weird for everyone. Her dad wanted to fight everyone, her mother acted like a child, Eugene was scared of almost everything, Cass was nicer than she'd ever been and it clouded her judgment, Pete and Stan were at each other's throats, and while her mom acted like a kid, the Captain of the Guards acted like a toddler. She was so mean and moody like any ordinary teenager. She felt bad when she remembered she told Eugene to grow a backbone. At the end of the day everyone wanted to believe it was just a dream. After the cookie incident with the serum from Xavier, she wished she dumped the rest of it out or gave it back to Xavier.

"I love being able to look into your eyes. Plus, it makes me feel safe. I can always move my head to rest on your chest so I can hear your heartbeat," Rapunzel tells Eugene. Cassandra peeks into Rapunzel's room and sneaks in while the young couple talk to each other. She closes the door almost all the way thinking the door shut when she pulled it towards her. Her brain was at the point where she couldn't comprehend anything, and she was surprised she was able to make it from her room to Rapunzel's. The only reason why she decided to sleep in the bay window of Rapunzel's room was because she knew her father. She knew he'd notice she was home. She didn't think about if the king would look into his daughter's room because he missed her.

The next few hours later the castle begins to start the day. King Frederick takes his usual path downstairs passing Rapunzel's room. Queen Arianna told him to stop doing that because it reminded him that their daughter was gone. Only this time they knew that one day she was coming home. Frederick comes to sudden stop sensing something different in the hallway this particular morning.

"Is everything alright Your Highness?" Nigel asks. It was almost an hour after the king would normally begin his day so Nigel decided to make sure the king was okay. It was clear that it was going to be a pretty rough day for him due to him getting to sleep around two or so in the morning. Just before his daughter had quietly made her return home even if it was within a few minutes. The fact he couldn't tell what was wrong made him feel uneasy.

"Get Captain Gainey immediately," he orders. Nigel nods his head and runs for it. Other servants could sense something wrong because Nigel never ran around the castle in such urgency before. In fact, no one had ever seen him in such a hurry before unless it was to keep up with the person he was talking to. Most of the time it was King Frederick, but he was no where in sight. Many had a fear something was wrong with the king or queen because of this. Gossip begins to spread.

Ten minutes later Nigel returns with the captain of the guards.

"Nigel said you needed me immediately. Something about an emergency?" Captain Gainey asks worried because this was unusual behavior for him. Even once the lost princess had been taken he hadn't acted like this. Nor did he when she snuck out of Corona with Cassandra and her blonde hair had returned. At this point both Nigel and Captain Gainey were worried and Nigel was prepared to get Queen Arianna need be.

"I've been taking this hallway every day since Rapunzel came home from the tower. Something felt off in this hallway and I now realize why. When I sent Nigel to get you, I looked around to see if I could figure out what was off and why. I thought it could be an intruder or an assassin for some reason. I noticed that for the past year Rapunzel's bedroom door has remained closed. The only time it was opened was when Arianna or I went in there. Not even staff has been allowed in, and the last time I saw Arianna she was in bed," Frederick explains.

"What's going on?" Arianna asks walking up from behind her husband.

''I'm worried that someone either ignored my "stay out of the princess's room" rule or someone broke into her room. Right now I'm hoping it was the rule breaker," Frederick responds. Arianna looks at her husband with a little bit of a worried feeling then looks over to Captain Gainey.

"You want me to make sure no one is in there and nothing's been disturbed?" Captain Gainey asks as soon as he sees the slight look of concern on the queen's face as well as the king's.

"Even if it's-," Frederick begins.

"Varian's been locked up the past year on 24/7 surveillance, Lady Cain and her group left on the prison barge, as well as a good majority of our criminals in our dungeon," Arianna reminds the men. It gets her thinking about if no one broke into the palace and her husband put a rule about their daughter's room in effect around the palace, then who would be in there. Even visitors knew not to go near the room. Frederick made sure to tell everyone coming to visit and as soon as someone began working. Suddenly she realizes who else it could be. She grabs the sword from her husband's hilt then begins walking towards the what should've been abandoned room.

"Arianna!" Frederick exclaims.

"Sh! We need to be quiet," Arianna whispers.

"Arianna, what if a trap?" Frederick asks.

"Then call me Dari-anna," she teases looking back at her husband. When she sees both unamusement and confusion on his face she frowns and looks in front of her once again. She opens the door slowly then looks around to see a couple sleeping in her daughter's bed. She then notices someone else in the bay window. The girl in the bed stirs, moving her arm from her face. Arianna smiles when she realizes her feeling from only a minute prior was right.

"Is everything alright, Your Grace?" the captain asks as she hands the king his sword back.

"See for yourself instead of acting like kids. "You go see""no you go see""I don't want to see". It's not like it's a mouse or a spider," Arianna informs the men. Frederick and Captain Gainey look into the room once Arianna walks in, opening the door all the way to see their daughters and Eugene finally home after what felt like forever. Frederick stands in the doorway frozen for a second not believing his eyes.

"They're- they're back!" he finally manages to say announcing it. The others feel it was the shock wearing off on him. Rapunzel wakes up to see her parents and Cassandra's father. Cass left any weapons she normally carried on her, in her room so her first instinct is to throw the nearest object. Unfortunately for her the nearest object was her pillow. The captain of the guards catches it and throws it back to her. When she gets her pillow back Cass moves the blanket from her face. In the meantime Rapunzel wakes Eugene.

"Hi!" she exclaims to her parents after waking Eugene. Arianna runs over to her daughter and hugs her tightly.

"When did you get back?" the queen asks.

"Maybe two or three this morning. We drove all night," Rapunzel responds.

"You aren't blonde anymore," Arianna realizes. After a moment of hesitation she runs a hand through her daughter's hair.

"It's a rather long story, but I want to share some even bigger news," Rapunzel informs her parents. Frederick gets a sick feeling to his stomach because he felt it was rather bad news.

"It took me a proposal, practicing for the second proposal, and this one incident where I ended up telling her we were engaged, but we're getting married," Eugene announces.

"The entire trip is one rather long story. On the way home I bought a couple extra journals since I filled the pages of the one I got before my coronation from Mom, and in the other one was wedding plans. Eugene and I planned our wedding during the last half of our journey," Rapunzel continues.

"I'm so happy for you both," Arianna responds.

"That's not even the best part! We learned Eugene's dad has been alive the entire time. He just sent him away while the place he's from, it's called the Dark Kingdom, was in danger. His dad is the king of the Dark Kingdom!" Rapunzel explains in excitement.

"It means not only is your daughter in good hands, but she's also marrying a prince," Eugene says finally able to get a word in through all of his fiancee's excitement. Rapunzel realizes her father had been quiet the entire time. She gets out of bed and goes over to hug him. She knew her father missed her more than she'd ever know. She feels happy when he hugs her back tightly.

"I missed you both so much! At one point our journey had been made longer because we ended up having to go out to sea. We got stranded on an island and our caravan was in need of some serious repairs and we also had to wait for an actual ship that came to pick up some produce on the island. From there we got a ride with the pick up, but while we were on the island we came across what seemed like thousands of the lanterns you and everyone else in Corona sent within the past nineteen years. When I came across them I realized for the first time in like three months I missed you and home. I got homesick when I came across a note from you guys from my seventh birthday. Once I read it I started missing home so much. Pascal and I- this is where it gets weird, but Pascal and I found this magical totem and it had powers that let us see whatever we wanted. Whatever was in our hearts. I saw you guys, Eugene saw I think it was the royal ship. I'm surprised he didn't see himself getting off the island. Cass saw her dad and got to, I think, train with him," Rapunzel says excitedly.

"It was less weird when it all went down. It seemed to make more sense if you were there as well," Eugene explains. Frederick, Arianna, and Captain Gainey remain to have a confused look on their faces.

"We missed you the moment you left," Arianna responds.

"I like to think we didn't get homesick until a quarter of the way into our trip because of the adrenaline rush. Once the excitement wore of we must've realized how real this trip was. I mean, it's the first trip I've taken without the royal guard since I became an adult. It took a while to process what all was going on," Cass tells everyone.

"That's not true. The last trip you took was-," Captain Gainey begins.

"Before I left on this trip, the last trip I took was when I was fifteen or sixteen. We went to the kingdom of Weselton on official royal business. The guy was weird and I'm pretty sure, he was wearing a toupee" Cassandra reminds her father.

"I guess it was," Captain Gainey realizes. Cass gives him a "I knew I was right" look.

"You were homesick?" Eugene asks.

"What can I say? I'm very good at hiding my emotions," she responds.

"Except when it comes to you being mad at everything everyone except- nope, at everyone," Eugene remembers.

"Liar," Cass accuses.

"You didn't like any of the choices that Lance, Hookfoot, or I made. When Adira came along you immediately began to hate her. I don't blame you since I hated her at first too until after the Forbidden Forest adventure. Then when we went to the Great Tree, all of us guys got scared because Rapunzel snapped at you and then you asked why she suddenly didn't trust your judgment anymore. And who wasn't annoyed with Shorty the Stowaway?" Eugene reminds her.

"During this trip there were times where we were all tested in different ways. I snapped at Cass at the Great Tree, I was such a mess during that first day or so in Vardaros when the Baron poisoned Lance and I thought Eugene was marrying his ex-fiancee, Stalyan," Rapunzel begins.

"I remember how jealous you got. You were all like "what's her sister's name? Bronco?". The rest of us were like, "she's totally jealous". It was both hilarious and weird because it wasn't like you," Cass says.

"Lance's whistling upset you at one point and I don't know if it scared Cass, but I was freaked out when you threatened to throttle him," Eugene tells her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the greatest part of our journey," Rapunzel replies sarcastically.

"Wait! You mean she got petty-jealous?" Eugene asks Cass trying not to laugh.  
"Laugh it up now. You'll never see me that way again," Rapunzel scoffs.  
"I was beyond surprised when you actually got annoyed when we went to the Spire," Eugene says.  
"Okay, but remember that you met Calliope too. She kept correcting me every time she felt I said "spire" wrong. She also took credit for things others did and she also got us lost. Besides, she was just plain annoying," Rapunzel shrugs.  
"I'm surprised Cass didn't drop-kick her when she called her Rapunzel's mom," Eugene laughs.  
"I would've if Rapunzel didn't hold me back. Even if Calliope was a kid, I would've still drop-kicked her for saying that. She had no filter, and besides, I don't look older than Rapunzel at all," Cassandra argues.  
"I had every right to hold you back," Rapunzel tells her.  
"She wasn't really any help," Eugene reminds her.  
"She didn't believe I was only four years older than you!" Cass argues with Rapunzel.  
"It's over Cass," Rapunzel announces.

"Sounds like you guys had quite the trip," Arianna comments.

"It was an amazing trip!" Rapunzel exclaims.

"I want to hear more about this trip, but also, why didn't you let us know you were home?" Frederick asks. He had been so quiet it was like he didn't know what to say before.

"I wanted to wake you when I got back, but it was also way too early. We thought it'd be best to get a little sleep before letting you know we were home anyway. I missed you both so much. I missed being home. I wish you could've come. I understand why you couldn't though," Rapunzel explains.

"We missed you too. It pained us to see you go, but the only thing that made us-," Frederick begins to say.

"I wasn't as sad as you were, but that's also because I kept reminding myself this time she was coming home. I missed her, but at least this time I knew she was coming home. Although I was expecting a letter or something letting me know you were coming home," Arianna teases.

"Okay, okay! The only thing that made _me_ feel better was a letter from you. It must've been from from after you found the letter from me that I sent thirteen years ago, when you turned seven. Like your mom said, it was great to know you were coming home again. We missed you a lot," Frederick explains.

"If it helps, I saw you when I got a hold of the enchanted totem Rapunzel was talking about. We were sword fighting and she was right when she said that you continued training me," Cass tells Captain Gainey.

"There is so much more that happened! I want to tell you about everything!" Rapunzel exclaims excitedly. At this point Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cassandra were wide awake.

"I vote that we take the day off. Nigel can cancel the agenda for today! No queen duties for me, no king duties for Fred, and even the captain of the guards can have the day off. Anyone that has a problem with that can take it up with us tomorrow or Nigel will take care of it. Don't worry Nigel, you can tell people no and for today only you can tell people you'll report them if they don't take no for an answer. Either way, unless it's an emergency anyone that wants to talk to us can wait until tomorrow," Arianna declares.

"Yes, Your Highness," Nigel says leaving.

"Before we tell you everything that happened, I have to run an errand really quick. I mean it can wait, but I rather do this first. Is Varian still under lock and key?" Rapunzel asks.

"Yes. He doesn't talk though. I've gone to the prison once a week since you left and each time he doesn't say anything other than "it's her fault this happened" and he always says it to his raccoon once I reach the door before I leave. I've visited him for a full hour each time. He's changed a lot. It's like he's angrier and he looks so much smaller," Arianna responds.

"Smaller? He's always been small," Cass says confused.

"He's also gotten weaker. The men have noticed that there have been a lot of times he's refused to eat and gives most of his food to his pet. We're worried he might get worse if we take it away," Captain Gainey explains.

"He's not doing so well is our point," Arianna says.

"I hate how I couldn't help him free his father after I promised. I feel like it was my fault because I needed to take care of Corona. At the time I was in no position to help Varian and take care of Corona at the same time," she sighs.

"You were under pressure, Eugene had just left to save your parents, and with the storm you needed to focus on the evacuation. It wasn't your fault," Cass reminds her.

"Well, I still have to see him," Rapunzel says before leaving her room.

She hurries down to the prison and sees Stan guarding the door and Pete leaving. Nigel was talking to Stan most likely about how Captain Gainey was taking the day off due to her parents telling him he needed the day off. She quickly slips past the three men and goes into the prison looking in each cell. Most off the prisoners looked in awe at her because they knew the princess had left, but didn't know she had returned. The only prisoner that didn't look at her was a young, teenage boy. He looked as if he was still sleeping. His pet looked up at her in excitement waking the boy.

"Hi Ruddiger!" she says reaching her hand into the cell so she could pet the raccoon. He scurries over to her and chitters happily. Rapunzel's green eyes meet with a pair of blue eyes the second she looks up from Ruddiger. Before either can say a word Pete enters the prison once again.

"Princess Rapunzel! You're back!" he gasps.

"Yeah, I returned early this morning," she says sitting next to the jail cell.

"Nigel said your parents were taking a day off and didn't want any interruptions," he tells her.

"They wanted to hear about the trip I took with Eugene and Cass. I just wanted to check in with Varian first," she informs the guard.

"Well, good luck because he hasn't said anything in like a month or so," he says beginning to leave.

"Before you go Pete, could you unlock the cell door?" she asks.

"How about I leave the key with you so you can unlock and lock it just in case. Stan and I will still be outside just for protection," Pete says handing the princess the keys.

"Thank you," she says.

"Again, good luck getting Varian to talk," he tells her before leaving. She waits to speak until she knew Pete was gone.

"Hi Varian. I heard you weren't doing well and both my mom and Captain Gainey were right. They also told me you weren't really eating. Starving yourself isn't going to make everything better," she tells him. When he doesn't answer she sits with her back up against the cell bars.

"Why would you care?" he asks. Getting up from his bed, Rapunzel turns to look at him. She realizes her mom and Captain Gainey were right when they told her he was weak and lost weight making him smaller than he already was. He then sits with his back against hers, the bars being the only thing to separate them.

"Because I used to be your friend," she answers.

"Yeah, you used to be! Then you decided to betray me instead!" he tries arguing.

"I understand it if you hate me. If I were you I'd hate me too," she responds.

"I don't hate you. I just want you to feel the same pain I feel. I- I'm an orphan! Your dad wanted to try me as an adult and I'm only fifteen!" he exclaims.

"And that's not right. I'm sure that even after you kidnapped her, my mother still stopped him. You're not her kid and she still wants to help you. Like me she understands that you're hurt. I learned a lot while I was gone. For example, your dad hasn't always lived in Old Corona. He came from a place called the Dark Kingdom. He was pretty much friends with the king who happens to be Eugene's dad. Not to mention, Quirin was part of this group called the brotherhood with a man named Hector and a woman named Adira. She also questioned the name, but that's besides the point. The point I'm trying to make is that your dad knew the black rocks were dangerous because he had seen them even before I was born. Adira had promised to go to Old Corona to see if she could work with the amber that your dad got stuck in," she explains. She looks at him and sees tears in the boy's blue eyes.

"It's my fault he died. I've been blaming you for what I did because I didn't get help fixing my mistake. He told me not to touch the black rocks and I ignored what he said. I'm the reason for everything that's happened to him. I- I turned into a monster and I deserve to be tried as an adult and everything that's going to happen to me!" he sobs.

"No! You don't! It's not your fault and you shouldn't be blaming yourself. Yes, you messed with the rocks after being told not to, but it doesn't mean your dad is dead. Adira promised to come back here no matter what. She also may not be your mom, but you have so many people who care about you," Rapunzel says after entering the cell. She helps him up and they sit on his bed. As soon as she sits next to him he hugs her and cries.

"What if she can't save him? What do I do then?" he cries. They're interrupted by a tall woman with half of her face covered in red paint of some sort.

"Adira!" Rapunzel exclaims.

"Is this Quirin's son, Varian?" she asks.

"Yeah. What happened when you went to Old Corona?" Rapunzel responds.

"It didn't take long to free him, plus with Hector tagging along with me we were able to free him both quickly and carefully. It didn't take much since my sword is made of the same thing as the rocks. Anyway, he was weak when we freed him so we took him to a doctor and stayed with him all night. He woke up, but then lost consciousness again, however he seems to be doing well. I thought it'd be nice if when he wakes up again he got to see his son. Plus, I wanted to meet him since I heard he was Quirin's son. Since the day I saw you and realized you were the sunflower," Adira explains.

"He- he's alive!" Varian exclaims. He looks at Rapunzel with a weak smile.

"I told you Adira would do what she could. I also told you he was still alive, but before you go you have to eat. I can tell you're weak. Captain Gainey said you weren't eating and it was making you weak," Rapunzel says. Varian sits still as if the shock had finally set in.

"Are you okay, Varian?" Rapunzel asks looking at him.

"You- you promised. You promised to help him and you did," he says with tears falling down his face. Ruddiger nudges Varian as if it would help him stop crying. At least this time it wasn't because he was in pain. He was finally happy again.

"Of course. Even after you attempted to kill me, my mother, Cassandra, and I'm sure at one point my father as well, but I know from first hand experience how much it hurts to lose someone you love. I lost Eugene once, and almost lost him at least two- okay, maybe it was close to four or five times. I also almost lost Cassandra, the closest one I have to a sister a few times. You're lucky that your dad was even there to save you. Otherwise things would've turned out much, much differently," Rapunzel reminds Varian. He hugs the princess one last time before they leave the prison.

"Wait. Won't your dad be mad when he finds out you let me go?" Varian asks.

"I'll let him know. I'm twenty years old, an adult. Besides, one day I'll be queen. Although I have to still follow Corona law, I'll still change things around like I always do. This being one of those things. You may not have been right to use revenge in the way you did, I mean, you stole, lied, tricked people, tried to kill people. My understanding of what was going through you was that you were hurt. And because you were scared and felt it was others fault, you wanted to make others understand how you felt. I'm not saying you did everything right. You had your heart in the right place, but just remember to keep your head in the right place. The only reason why I'm saying that is because I don't want to see you go to jail again. Deep down I know you're still a good person, and I want Adira to keep an eye on you and let me know how you are doing. I can't let you off the hook completely. We'll still have a trial to see if you should be kept in jail or not. As soon as I let you walk out of here, I'm going to have to put you on parole. I need you to give me a reason to trust you again," Rapunzel explains.

"I understand. And I think you're right. I trust you'll also send a guard as well?" Varian asks. Rapunzel nods.

"You're lucky to be her friend, kid. I've watched after her from the moment you were put in jail until I was dropped off at your house with my friend, Hector. Hector never watched after her, but we both helped free your dad. She'll make a great queen because she was a great leader. And even though Hector was once like a brother to me, even he had to earn my respect and trust back after he tried to stop Rapunzel from fulfilling her destiny. I also felt betrayed when he didn't believe me in any way when it came to the sun drop and moonstone legends. I'm sure one day she'll trust you like I'm sure I'll trust Hector as well," Adira responds.

"There's a moonstone legend?" Varian asks.

"I'll explain on the way. We can stop somewhere that has better food than a prison," Adira whispers to him. Both look up to see if Rapunzel had heard her.

"Phil, can you go to Old Corona with Varian and my new to Corona friend, Adira? I'll let Captain Gainey and my father know about me letting Varian go and you going with. It'll also be just for a few days until we can set up a trial for him," Rapunzel promises.

"Yes, Princess," a short man with a thick brown mustache answers as they leave the castle. Rapunzel smiles and as soon as she sees them in the courtyard heading to the gates she runs up the stairs and into her room to find everyone was no longer there. She looks around to see even Pascal was no longer there and no one had left a note. She walks the halls looking in rooms. After checking the entire upstairs after a half hour she goes to check her room once more. As she reaches for the doorknob a voice tells her to double check downstairs since it seemed they weren't there. She tries to ignore the voice, but then goes back downstairs. She reaches the top of the stairs she sees Eugene standing at the bottom smiling at her.

"I thought you fell asleep in the prison. I mean, we haven't seen you in a full hour now," he teases. She runs down the steps and hugs him. He smiles and hugs his fiancee tightly. It made him happy that she yes. He just felt guilty he told her she said yes when she lost a year and a half worth of memories. Sure, she understood why he lied once she got her memories back, but he couldn't forgive himself for lying. He told her when she barely knew him that she had agreed to marry him. He thought back to when the Baron had kidnapped him, Shorty, and Lance. Stalyan had even told him what he needed to hear and he ignored that voice telling him that she was right when he lied to her. It took a toll on their relationship when she got her memory back and found out the truth. If it weren't for Lance and his strangely weird, but wise advise the two would've probably gone their separate ways. Eugene would've probably stayed with Edmund at the Dark Kingdom and she would've gone home to her parents in Corona. Both heartbroken because of something stupid.

"Hey, you okay?" Rapunzel asks interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah, sorry. I just got lost in thought and I don't think I even realized it. I can't stop thinking about what happened when you got hit by that memory wiping spell. I'm surprised we're still together and you forgave me after what I did," he says as they walk to where everyone else was now at.

"Lance was right though. It's stupid to fight over the fact you lied because you only thought about how much you love me. You were afraid things would change after the spell was restored. I don't care if that's right or wrong. I was wondering when you were going to propose again because you had several chances to. There were a few times when we were on that island, and I'm mostly thinking about when we fought about how Hook Foot should act around Seraphina. There was when we celebrated your birthday. Well, up until Demanitus showed up and everything got weird," Rapunzel remembers.

"As strange as it seems, I feel like Lance has shown that he's a lot smarter than he seems. I feel like he needs to show everyone it. Otherwise he's acting like the one that's around just for the laughs," Eugene says. Rapunzel stops and pulls Eugene to a halt.

"Who are we meeting with?" she asks suddenly concerned.

"No one you have to dress up for," Eugene teases.

"Is it just my parents, Cass, and Captain Gainey?" Rapunzel asks.

"Yeah. Why?" Eugene responds.

"You didn't invite Lance? Your best friend?" she continues to interrogate.

"No, but that's because he's still sleeping," Eugene answers.

"If we continue going in this path then we're going to the kitchen. Lance is always where the food is. Now, he could be still asleep or raiding the kitchen. We should check," she informs him.

"Alright," Eugene says giving in rather quickly.

The two retreat back up the steps and walk to where Lance's room was.

"Remember when him and Cassandra turned into kids and we had to take care of them and Shorty?" Rapunzel reminisces laughing.

"As much as I want to say that is my favorite thing that happened since he found me here, I think it was when we met Angry and Red. Who knew he was good with kids?" Eugene asks jokingly. They reach Lance's bedroom and pause before knocking. It felt like a dark cloud glooming over them.

"Are you okay?" Rapunzel questions.

"Lance is really good with kids. It's almost as if he'd been around them a lot. Or at least before. He's been hiding something and I know it. I mean, he's great with kids, and during the trip he talked in his sleep. He kept saying "Rosie" and at least once I swear I saw him jump after seeing- or at least I thought I saw him jump when he saw a couple different ladies. One in Vardaros and then again when we were- okay it was either Pincosta or where ever Hook Hand's piano concert. I feel like he's hiding something or maybe someone," Eugene confesses.

"What could he be hiding? You think he's hiding someone named "Rosie"? You're his best friend so I don't think he'd hide from you," Rapunzel says. The door opens and the couple turns to see Lance at the doorway looking at the floor. He refused to look up.

"I- I'm not that much of a best friend. Princess, Eugene is right," Lance admits.

"I don't understand," Rapunzel tells him.

"I didn't realize I talked in my sleep but Rosie is someone I've been hiding from you guys. I'm also good with kids for a reason and it's not just because of the fact I act like one. The second necklace I wear is my wedding ring. I've been trying to make things better for my family. I have two boys with Rosie, their names are Shawn and Spencer. We were about to have a third kid, but we were having trouble. We were hardly able to afford our house, lucky to afford food for the boys. I left to try and find a way to help my family. That explains attempting to rob the Baron and why when I finally found Eugene again I tried to get him to follow. I promised mostly myself I wouldn't return until I could give the kids the life they deserve. Rosie too! I don't think I've seen them in maybe two years. It explains why I was scared I thought I saw Rosie. I was worried sick when I didn't see the kids and I was scared she got into trouble after I left. It explained why Eugene and I moved around and I didn't want her to have to do that. I also didn't want her looking for me in case she hated me for leaving her to take care of three kids on her own. I've wanted to write to her, but I didn't want you guys to find out," Lance explains.

"It wouldn't change how we think of you. You should- wait! You said the world would be better without people like you guys when my parents were in trouble. You had a family to think about," Rapunzel realizes.

"At the time I felt like the world would be a better without people like me. I left my family, but I was also afraid to lose them at the same time. That's why I told Eugene that the horse would have to go before I would onto the ledge to get to your parents. I could tell Eugene was afraid to do what he was doing too! He was afraid to lose you!" Lance tells her.

"Raps, I need to talk to you," Eugene finally says. He begins walking away and after he stops she follows.

"You don't believe him," Rapunzel says looking at him.

"I knew he was hiding something. I just didn't know it was something like that, but no one would leave their family for two years. Besides, what about Adira? He seemed to like her. It's weird he had a crush on that looney person since we met her if he's married," Eugene explains.

"Maybe- okay, that's an ask your best friend question. I have an idea!" Rapunzel gasps.

"I feel like I won't like it," Eugene mumbles.

"Lance, we should send someone to get Rosie and your kids! That way they get the things they deserve. You guys could make Corona your new home. I know you'll be happy here," Rapunzel announces ignoring what Eugene had said.

"I- I feel like I can't accept since you've done so much for me already," Lance says.

"As someone who spent eighteen years away from her family I can tell you how much misery it is to be away from people you love. Besides, you've never met your third kid," Rapunzel reminds him.

"What about Adira? What was that weirdness between you both. Mostly you," Eugene asks.

"Adira was a lot like Rosie. Except Rosie couldn't fight. Unless she learned while I was away. I don't know why she'd need to though," Lance explains.

"If you give me the address then I can have Nigel send a carriage for them," Rapunzel tells him. Lance looks up at the couple.

"You could give it to her after breakfast. We mostly meant to come get you," Eugene says.

After a quiet few minutes to the dining room they enter.

"That explains what took so long," Cassandra scoffs.

"Ha ha. Most of it was me wondering where everyone disappeared to after I went down to see Varian. Oh, and I let him go. It'll be okay since I sent a guard to go with him. Quirin had friends from when he lived in the Dark Kingdom. They're in this group called the Brotherhood, which is weird since one of them is a woman. Anyway, Quirin's friends, Adira and Hector freed Quirin. That's why I let Varian go," Rapunzel explains quickly knowing her dad was going to say something if she didn't say it quickly. Frederick sits still quietly as if he was taking in the news.

"Let's talk more about the trip! Maybe that will bring your dad back down to earth," Arianna suggest. She wanted to steer the conversation away before Frederick could say anything. Before he could get mad.

"You- you let Varian go? You remember he had almost killed you, stole from the castle vault, almost killed Cassandra and your mom, he kidnapped your mom, and released a wild animal in the town's center that almost killed many people, especially you. Right?" Frederick asks.

"I sent a guard with him. Phil went with Varian and Adira. Plus, while you're not the king today we can discuss a trial for him tomorrow when you can be the king again and I can be the Princess of Corona again," Rapunzel says.

Once they finish breakfast they spend the rest of the day telling Frederick, Arianna, and Captain Gainey about their journey and the ups and downs they had.

A week later is Varian's trial and after a lot of persuasion from Rapunzel, Varian is set free. After the trial the town begins preparations for what is promised to be the wedding of the century.


End file.
